Estes Park, Colorado

Hanging in the park...

Anybody wanna play?

The tail is great!!!

I was 2 feet from these amazing animals!!

To start with, sometimes I don't understand the images and how they appear on the screen. The above looks like I just dropped a bunch of pictures onto the screen...yikes!

Our weekend was quite restful as Eli has the croup. We thought it would be best to lay low for most of the weekend. Eli wanted to get out the lincoln logs. I had to laugh as Rob spent almost 45 minutes building an entire village...then Eli played with it for about 7 minutes before he had to destroy it. Eli has been a little poopsicle lately with his toys...likes to crash them onto the ground. Oh what fun it is!!!

After hanging home on Friday, we decided to take a ride up to Estes Park and check out some of the shops. Eli was getting a little restless so we decided to take him to the park...wrong answer! The park was being occupied by a herd of elk!! We could hardly believe our eyes...thankgoodness Eli was ok with not going to that particular park. The pictures are pretty amazing. Rob had made a comment that he can walk around in the woods all day and not see an elk...then to come to the park and they are everywhere.

I was able to get some more Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped. Yes, you read that correctly! Hard to believe that we only have 3 weeks before we have our first Christmas morning of the season with Rob's kids.

On Monday, my mommies group got together for the Great Pumpkin Party. The kids were able to paint their pumpkins, make a mask, and best of all, play! You will be able to see a sneak peek of Eli's dinosuar costume. Yeah, he actually wore it for quite some time. My mom was the professional that did all the handy work...I will stick to sewing buttons onto shirts!

Denver Zoo and Pumpkin Patch, oh my!

What a wild weekend we had! I love that Rob doesn't work on Fridays...it will suck when I go back to work, but for now I have no reason for jealousy..ha!ha! On Friday, the day was absolutely gorgeous...(80 degrees...yippee for the sun) so off to the Denver Zoo we went. That place is unbelivably...so many unique animals. Eli never stopped walking/running the entire visit. We actually could have gotten away with not bringing the stroller. What a difference in Eli's reactions to the animals since the time we brought him to the Indy Zoo in August. He was so much more engaged this time around.

On Saturday, Rob went hunting so I brought Eli to a pumpkin patch...oh, how I miss Uncle John's Cider Mill! Anyway...we went for a hayride, rode John Deere tricycles, played on the playset, road a barrel train, and many other silly activities. Eli loves saying the word pumpkin whenever he sees one. Needless to say, I heard the word pumpkin a time or two.

When Eli woke up on Sunday, he was very surprised to see his gma and gpa at the house. He gets so crazy when they are around. My mom had made him some bean bags...well, Rob takes one and throws it at full force at the wall. Eli squealed with excitement....and proceeded to try to copy his dad. I was like, what a minute...we are not going to throw these and break a window! So, we spent the rest of the day experimenting with the bean bags...oh, what a kid! During the day on Sunday, Rob and I actually got to go and get some shopping done. This was a first time in awhile that Rob and I went out and I left my mother duties at home...a well deserved treat! Toys r Us was one of our stops...we filled the cart and spent a lot less than we anticipated...time to go back!!!

Unbelieveable Sight!!!

What a miraculous sight it was to go past the ol' gas station and see gas at $2.98 a gallon...plus I have a Sooper card that gives me 3 cents off per gallon. I never thought I would see gas under 3 bucks again.
We were suppose to go to a pumpkin patch today but our weather just sucks! There are actually blizzard warnings for different parts of Wyoming...thank goodness not our area, but we still are going to get some frigid temps. I will have to come up with some crazy indoor activities for us to do.
In some great news, we were able to land some great airline tickets prices for Thanksmas in Indiana. Originally, we were going to drive (heaven help us) to Joe's house but I kept checking the different flights. Now we will be able to celebrate even longer with our family...yeah!!!! Crazy thing....while we are there, Eli will be celebrating his 3rd birthday...wow, three already.

Visit to Nana and Papa's

What a busy week! Nana and Papa came to visit for a couple of days. Eli always loves when they come to visit...nothing but play, play, play! Eli still has the nasty fall cold but getting better each day. Then on Tuesday, we made the trip to Hill City to stay with Nana and Papa for a couple of days. Eli loved the huge backyard which was a huge playland!

On Sunday, we actually stayed home all day with the exception of church. I actually had time to do some scrapbooking. Eli stood by the table cutting and cutting his project....like for 15 minutes...a true record! A very funny moment was when I had to run upstairs to grab something. I came back downstairs to see Eli sitting in my chair with a marker. YIKES!!! He decided to add some of his own journaling to my completed pages and pictures....all I could do is laugh. I did take away the scissors however, never thought about him opening the markers! This is just one of the cherished memories I will have forever!!!